International news

Bund and Euribor traders will have a new benchmark product come November: futures on a range of EuroMTS government bond indexes, which will trade on Euronext.Liffe in London.The first set of products will be indexes of 7- to 10-year instruments for the Euro zone, as well as for France, Italy and Germany individually.Significantly, all four indexes — and those slated to follow — will be “total return” instruments, meaning the index reflects the effects of coupon-reinvestments.

German Regulator on Hot Seat

The head of Germany’s financial market regulator, the Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, BaFin) looks set for a rare no-confidence vote on Sept. 26 as the fallout from a fraud that cost the agency €4 million last year. In a report commissioned by the federal government, PricewaterhouseCoopers says federal auditors warned BaFin it was being ripped off back in 2004, but BaFin boss Jochen Sanio failed to act.

Chinese Financials

The China Financial Futures Exchange will soon open in Shanghai. The Shanghai Shenzhen 300 futures will be the first contract listed.